Established in 1946 in Kasai, Japan, Itoh Denki started manufacturing motors for household electronics, then built on its experience to develop the world’s first range of motor driven rollers for conveyors in 1976, a technology that we have been continuously developing and improving ever since.
President at Itoh Denki Europe
Itoh Denki is now present worldwide to supply customers in many industries, offering a complete range of roller drives and controls as well as a line of compact diverters and other solutions for intralogistics. All our products can be easily integrated into a wide range of conveying and sortation processes, allowing flexible and cost-efficient solutions design, with market leading performances.
Tatsuya Akashi, President of Itoh Denki Europe spoke to Warehouse & Logistics News.
What are your best-known products/solutions/services?
Our core business revolves around motor driven rollers (MDR) for conveyors, a technology that we have been constantly improving over the past 50 years and which is now more relevant than ever in intralogistics automation.
We offer an extensive range of MDR models and compatible controllers, designed to meet the specific needs and technical requirements of our clients.
Additionally, we have developed a range of 24V diverter modules, which have gained significant traction for processes involving sortation and routing applications, offering enhanced performance with greater flexibility.
How many markets are you in and what is your biggest market?
The flexibility of our technologies allows them to be used in the design of intralogistics solutions over a wide range of industries and applications. The recent surge of e-commerce has made this market the primary user of our products, which are heavily used all along the intralogistic lines from reception and storage to order preparation. But other industries such as postal services, distribution or manufacturing, amongst others, represent an important share of our user base.
In what ways does your company stand out from its competitors?
Pioneers of the MDR technology, we have gathered a unique expertise and knowledge that allows us to stay at the forefront of innovation. Furthermore, since our products are central to the warehouse operation, we believe that high quality and reliability is a must, that is why all our products are entirely developed and manufactured by our own teams in Japan, including mechanical and electronic components. To keep a strict control over our supply chain and deliver the best service and lead times, the MDR are then assembled in our French factory according to the requirements of our customers in the EMEA area.
What are your most recent product innovations?
We recently released a new diverter module, the MRAT, which is able to sort products up to 250kg and work in cold environments up to -30°C. This module offers the same flexibility and secure product handling as the rest of our modules and is only using 24V motors, making installation and maintenance an easy task.
What are the major trends and developments affecting your category and your customers, and how are you responding?
In a number of industries, starting with e-commerce, conventional heavy and bulky conveying systems are not fitting to business evolutions and operational requirements anymore. The trend has shifted towards conveyors that offer more flexibility, both in terms of their ability to be customised and modified according to changing requirements, but also for their adaptability to any type of process.
MDR conveyors are for example used in combination with robotised goods to person storage systems, or in the conception of automated sort by destination lines.
Can you tell us about any recent customer contract wins or projects and how you helped the customer meet their challenges?
In a recent project for a major fresh eggs producer, French integrator Transitic designed sortation lines to increase throughputs but with the challenge of ensuring the safety of the fragile boxes of eggs. To do so, they used Itoh Denki’s MABS multidirectional diverters in combination with MDR conveyors, allowing the boxes to be handled with extreme care while keeping a high throughput.
How do your business levels in 2024 compare to previous years?
Following a relative recess resulting from the cautiousness of end-users to invest in costly projects amongst economic uncertainties in 2023, the year 2024 has so far been more dynamic, with an increase in project volumes and consultations. We saw several large projects that were put on hold being reactivated and have marked more than 20% net sales growth in the first half of 2024 vs 2023.
What is your strategy for growth and success in 2025?
We believe 2025 will be an interesting year, with the potential for growth especially from markets in Eastern or Northern Europe.
We intend to strengthen relations with local partners to deliver the best service and solutions to the end-users.
Products wise, we will promote our solutions for flexible sortation systems, using our multidirectional MABS and F-RAT NX sorters in order to design space and cost-efficient solutions.
We will also extend our range of available rollers and diverters, and will be working to offer innovative solutions for small item transport and singulation.
Are you investing in staff training and skills development and can you give examples?
Regular training and continuous skills improvement are essential for us to stay innovative and competitive. We have indeed implemented training programmes focusing on advanced technologies in intralogistics, ensuring our teams remain at the forefront of industry advancements and are better prepared to assist customers.
What work are you doing in the area of sustainability?
We believe that the largest impact we can make towards sustainability is through the technologies that we provide.
One of the major assets of MDR powered intralogistics is energy efficiency. As an example a simple MDR conveyor will save up to 60% power when compared to a classic external drive conveyor.
In addition, we are aligning our operations with sustainable practices, from our ISO 14001 certified factories in Japan to our efforts in reducing our power consumption by installing a solar panel grid on our factory’s roof in France.
Will you be investing in your premises over the next 12 months?
As for our operations in Europe, following the construction of a new building last year, we will continue extending our production capacity by updating our machine fleet.
We are also renewing our test and demonstration conveyor loops in our Amsterdam technical centre, this will allow us to better showcase our latest technologies and allow clients to conduct product tests prior to project commitments.
How future-proof and flexible are your solutions?
The modularity and flexibility of our products is a real advantage that allows customers to keep control over future modifications on their intralogistics lines. MDR systems can be easily scaled-up or down and layouts can be modified according to changing requirements.
Furthermore, the durability of our products ensures that they will be running for an extended period of time with minimal maintenance requirements.
What exhibitions can we expect to see your company exhibiting at in 2025?
In the first half of 2025, Itoh Denki will be present at Logimat in Stuttgart from March 12-15 and at SITL Paris from April 1-3. More local shows will be added to the programme in the next months. Please follow our website or LinkedIn for more information.
How would you sum up your company in three words?
Innovation, quality, trust.
ITOH DENKI
+33 (0)4 50 03 09 99
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